Pharmacy hit by burglary attempt

October 15, 2003

By Angela Peacock

A Tucumcari pharmacy fell victim Monday night to what police are calling an attempted burglary.

Bob McClelland Jr. was called to his fathers drug store, Bob’s Budget Pharmacy on Second Street, when a backup store alarm system was initiated at about 10:20 p.m.
According to a police report, an operator with Central Security alerted local police that there was a disturbance at the store. The perpetrators have not been found.

When McClelland arrived he observed a front glass door had been shattered, a tear in the carpet and the rock that had broken the door lodged into a hole on the rear wall of the building.

Tucumcari Police Chief Dennis Townsend said the electric meter was removed from the building leading officers to believe the incident wasn’t just another case of random vandalism.

“We think this was an attempted burglary otherwise we don’t feel the electric meter would have been removed,” Townsend said.

A large rock was used to shatter the pharmacy door, Townsend said.

McClelland estimated $500 worth of damage to the store, but said no money or products were missing from the building.

“Whoever did this had to know what they were doing somewhat because it’s a sequence of events to disable the alarm, but what they didn’t expect was a back up alarm,” McClelland said. “I don’t know what their intentions were if they walked out empty handed after all the work they did.”